A new purchase

 A week ago, after a very frustrating time with faulty machines at our last gathering I happened to be walking through Aldi buying something quite mundane when I saw they had sewing machines for $129 and it seemed to be the same one as Stephanie bought some time ago and is quite a good machine.

So our group now has a new machine.

After gently testing it I discovered that something must have worked loose in transit so I took it apart in the bobbin area. I had to take Stephanie's apart to check just how it was supposed to go back together. I eventually got it running smoothly and made our next block using it.

It is quite noisy and had a slightly different foot pedal feel but once you get used to that it runs well.

Then I had to test Stephanie's machine to make sure I put it together again correctly but as I had set it up for my hexie flower project I did not want to alter the settings. It is doing just as I need it to.

So I remember the settings on it I have taken a few photos so that if we need to change them I know where to set it to keep the hexie project going between times.

We now have four sewing machines that work. That is until something else goes wrong.

A Saturday upstairs with friends

 On Saturday five of us gathered in person then another three on Zoom in the afternoon.

Apparently I was a bit of slave driver but we did get the tulips bordered and sandwiched and our dark 'brick wall' ready to sandwich. Unless someone else would like to do the quilting I will do that when I have time.

While we were on Zoom we drew out our next lucky dip fabric. This one was donated by Carol and it is really beautiful. It would be good to get a stunning block design that echoed the pattern in the fabric.

We have two suggestions so far...

One Karen found online

But I wonder if another stained glass Magic Numbers block using the aqua as the peeper in random positions might work focusing on the orange tones.

Or even a stack and slash with the slashes being parallel to the edge of the fabric rather than random??

Last week's quilt gatherings

 At our last quilting weekend we had our two visitors from the Central West - Janice and Chooky (see previous post). Karen presented her latest quilt top. She says... With help from Stephanie and Linda, my leaders-and-enders quilt is now basted. It has reduced my pile of L-&-Es only slightly. 

I began with one of my practice star blocks from some years ago and then worked out from that, aiming to use as many L-&-Es as possible in various patterns, front and back. And using some other fabrics that went with those colours and for which I had no other purpose. 

Next will be a quilt using my accumulation of green, yellow and brown L-&-Es...

Stephanie busied herself putting our Betty's Garden blocks together when she was not basting Karen's quilt. Our two visitors were making Card Trick blocks for our next quilt but unfortunately the large triangles were the wrong size so they were taken home to finish but will be returned.

Then, this week Kerrie came to visit and brought her mother's sewing machine for us to use. We spent time creating extensions for her quilt that used to be a wall hanging. She wants it to be a single bed topper.

So far we have one end complete. Of course we could not match the fabrics so have decided to at least keep it in a 'country' theme. We have enough of the original green fabric for a border to add once the bottom extension is complete. After that we'll consider the next move.

Just behind Kerrie's quilt top can be seen the Betty's Garden blocks that Stephanie was trimming and sewing together.

When Quilters Tour

  On Friday, after 2 hours of rehab, I returned home to await the arrival of Chooky (Coonamble) and Janice (Bathurst) who were coming to stay at mine. Stephanie joined us for afternoon tea as well.

On Saturday Stephanie came back to mine and we all travelled by train to the city to meet up with Janet (Utah) and use a wander around Sydney as the background to meeting in real life (rather than on Zoom). 

Before meeting Janet we met up with Jules (Coonamble), another quilting friend, and took a little detour via Customs House at Circular Quay for the surprise in the floor.

After meeting up with Janet, her husband and two friends she was travelling with, our next stop was to City Extra for lunch.

By then we were quite a crowd as Leah (another friend of Chooky's) had joined us. Janet's 3 travel companions then left us to tour on the Red Bus while we others took the ferry to Manly.

The day was very hot but we were able to stay in the shade most of the time.

When we arrived at Manly Stephanie and I stayed at the ferry terminal enjoying an ice cream which melted as quickly as we could eat it while the others walked to the beach so Janet could put her feet in the Pacific Ocean (or is it the Tasman at that point?). Of course she came back with her jeans wet to the knees!

Once we returned to Circular Quay we returned to Customs House to show Janet where she was in Sydney and enjoyed a coffee nearby. We then caught the Light Rail to the QVB. 

Janet was suitably impressed with the stunning interior of the QVB. We then walked through to Haighs where Stephanie just had to buy supplies. We all sampled the chocolate buttons. Yum!

It was then time to start heading home so we caught a train to Mascot station then while some people walked I caught an Uber with others to the Moxy Airport hotel where Janet and friends were staying for just one night before leaving on a cruise the next day.

We enjoyed dinner together at the Moxy before saying our goodbyes to the Utah mob. How unfortunate that they only had one day in Sydney but maybe they'll be back again. 

The four remaining of us caught an Uber back to my car at Allawah and I drove home to a surprise meeting with Geoff and the girls who were at mine to collect their beehive. Stephanie drove home to hers. This was followed by a bit of a wind down and a long sleep.

On Sunday our quilting day together started at about 10am. We were joined by Stephanie again as well as Karen and Linda.

What a weekend we all had. By the time everyone had left for their respective return journeys I just collapsed in front of TV until bed time. We had had an amazing long weekend with so many friends and look forward to repeating the idea again soon.

Thank you Janet for being the catalyst for this gathering.

Our first get-together for 2025

 Yesterday a small group (Karen, Elaine, Stephanie and I) worked hard upstairs, and Linda and Jess came for lunch.

We were able to put all the tulips together and really love the final design. If your blocks have not been included we can still use them as orphan blocks when and if they arrive.

This allowed us to clear the design wall and put up our "stained glass" blocks and discuss what next with this quilt top. To avoid making it too formal as a grid we will probably offset the blocks somehow. There are still some of these blocks to come so by the end of February they should be here.

Heather joined us on zoom in the afternoon and lots of laughs were had. Stephanie showed us her take on what she and I should do with our 'black' quilt and I like it.

It means cutting up the blocks we've made into 4 and inserting alternate black patches then cutting the sides and adding them back flipped. It does look amazing, I hope I have enough black.

Some people sourced colours for our next block from my stash. The background fabric is the focus fabric and it should be on its way to you now. If you want it please let me know. 

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone back in March with all blocks returned.

November together

 On Saturday last four of us gathered and early in the day Elaine and I chose another fabric because we realised that with Christmas coming and my hip op in January followed by rehab, we probably won't be getting together for another quilting day until March 2025. We have therefore designed a block that is simple enough but with a bit of quirkiness to keep life interesting.

The base block is known as a Magic Numbers block because it is based on 2-4-6" finished squares which tessellate into a 14" block. However, because I like the idea of Stained Glass we've added some black leading. If we were to add it as strips the maths would all have to be redone. So by making the leading as peepers there are no maths challenges.

The basic block design comes from Sew Katie Did at https://www.sewkatiedid.com/2011/08/21/magic-number-quilt-tutorial/ 

We made our Lilac Flowers quilt back in 2014 using this technique which was introduced to us by Jenny. It is most appropriate that the fabric donation this time also came from Jenny. Those who were here were able to raid my stash of cut patches to include in their blocks.

Now it is time to gather together all the finished blocks for our last three quilts as they come in so that when we get together again we can do the next steps to create beautiful quilts. So keep your blocks coming in.

It was also great to meet up on Zoom with Jenny, Linda and Lynette on Saturday.

As soon as I had collapsed in front of the TV and eaten my early dinner on Saturday I had an email inviting me to a short zoom from Chookyblue. It was great to meet up with those quilting friends and have a bit of time to sort fabrics to post to distance members of our group.

If anyone would like to text or ring to book another pop-up patchwork day please do so. I'm happy to negotiate.

Progress in September

We were only four ladies on Saturday but we did tie up a lot of loose ends.

Our scrappy quilt top had backing and binding chosen but it will need to wait for quilting because it really needs to be done on Stephanie's machine as there are so many small pieces to hold down.

 We then focused on Heather's Spots. It was all ready for Elaine to attach the interesting corners and it now is ready for sandwiching.

It will be backed in a flowery yellow that we found and bound with lime green. It actually looks stunning and all those tiny half-square-triangles you sent back have been incorporated.

We were one short for Sue's Daisies so Karen spent time making one more. They are now ready for trimming and joining. We'll probably need a border on this one as it is only small. 

Elaine did a lucky dip draw and it is Karen's contribution. We think it is Wisteria and she included a block design. All I have to do now is write the instructions and post out the fabric. It will come eventually as I am still quite exhausted from my recent trip away.

Our Zoom also had 5 people online - Elaine (who went home early), Karen and I (who were still at mine), Heather (NZ) and Lynette.

If anyone has any ideas about new ways to run our weekends please contact me and we'll put our thinking caps on.

A June Get-together

 Last weekend on a very very wet day we gathered to have fun with patchwork again. We had a new member, Sue W.,  and quite a few absent members but some of them joined us on zoom later in the day. Kerrie also joined us. She was on her way to a hang-gliding adventure when it was called off so she decided she was closer to my place than her home so came for the day here.

We spent the morning making scrappy squares for our next quilt so the table looked a mess.

It is looking quite good so far.

In the afternoon we drew out our next fabric and spent a while choosing an appropriate block design and hunting through my stash for fabrics that will be good with the Focus Fabric.

 

Everyone arrived home safely even though it was raining cats and dogs when most people left. Thanks for a lovely day.

Our May Gathering

Last weekend an intrepid small group of dedicated quilters arrived in the rain to work like slaves and move some of our group projects forward.

The first achievement was to bind the ballerina quilt and it is now at home with Elaine to be hand hemmed.

The next task was to help me with my huge Woven Jacobs' Ladder quilt top and pin it to its backing. It won't have any batting but is too big to handle on my own.

Task 3 was to sandwich the Tessellated Stars quilt which I can now quilt on my sewing machine. I think I'll just do it in cream diamonds.

Task 4 was to do a bit of rearranging of our quilt blocks from Heather's donated fabric.

  Then during our zoom in the afternoon we made even more changes to this one so it is now ready to sew together.

After discussing options for our next project we will be doing a scrappy crumb quilt using the same process that Stephanie and I are using for our Baradine Bits Quilt. There will be no mailout for this one and no draw from the lucky dip basket. I will email out instructions.

Scrub Stitchin' 3

 Up early again and I even beat Chooky to the sewing room.

Camp Cypress certainly lives up to its name with dozens of cypress pines dotting the area.

I continued with blocks for the Jacobs' quilt after Chooky helped me to swap tables before many people arrived for breakfast. A much more stable table. By about morning tea time I had finished all of one set of blocks.

Stephanie and I drove to the National Parks Discovery Centre in Baradine then also drove around for a "tour of the 'burbs" after a coffee at the Embassy Cafe. Baradine is a small town of about 600 residents but does have a hospital.

I then went ahead to finish binding the Jewel Quilt before dinner was served.

After dinner I started the project that Chooky introduced us to and by bedtime I had figured out how to change a one ended section into one that travelled in two directions to create a table runner.

Another day of sewing and chatting and a show and tell of all our projects and things we'd also brought with us.

At sunset we were all ushered out of the sewing room for drinks and nibbles in the cool of the evening while the room was prepared for our final night dinner. The theme was stars.

Fun was had by all and an exchange of gifts was enjoyed. Mine was a lovely sewing kit made by Janice.

Other gifts that were in our starry bag on our desk when we arrived included...

I spent a bit of time on our last morning experimenting with creating slabs of fabric from everyone's scraps before packing to leave after lunch.

Everyone set out their zig zag projects to see what they could look like.

We stayed another night with Jen and Alex on our way home and enjoyed dinner at their favourite haunt.

Of course I had to stop on the way home at the Capertee Valley lookout. Such a magnificent view and very significant to Surrey and I.